The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-01-08
EPHESUS' SEVEN SLEEPERS.
The Legend Which Accounts for
Their Long Maps"

A correspondent with the Anglo.
Russian Commission on the frontier
of Atghanistan sends the following
variant upon the story of the Seven
sleepcrs of Ephesus: ltsecms that the
grave of the Seven Slccpcrs, which in
the Koran is located at Ephesus. is in
reality in the Hirak valley, on the
Afghan frontier, some four miles to the
southwest of the Anglo-ltuSsian camp
at thahar samba. The version of the
Koran Says the correspondent is that
seven men. firm in the faith of their
God, separated from the rest Of their
tribe, who had taken to other. gods,
and taking refuge in a cave were caused
to sleep there with their dog, for
three hundred and tifty-nine years. The
Eshans, of khwajah Altai Azizan,
change the scene from Ephesus to
Turkestan, and tell a very different
story. The King Dakianus, they say,
was originally Il shepherd of Shibbar-
Ghail, and tended his iiockS in the hills
for twelve years, till one day he found
a slab of stone with m inscription on
it. Not being able to decipher the lat
ter, he showed it to a moOllah, who
told him it was a record of hidden
treasure. Having possessed himself
of the treasure and killed the moollah
Dfkianus took service with the King, |
and after some time rose to the COM
mand Of an army. He soon got the
army on his side, seized the kingdom
and eventually conquered the world.
When thus in supreme power the devil
appeared before Dakianus in the form
of the angel Gabriel. and tempted him
by telling him that God had Sent him
to say that He was God of the heavens,
but that Dakianus was god of the earth.
DakIanuS, who was Il worshiper of one
God, refused to believe the devil, and
told the latter he was not the true
angel Gabriel. The devil then offered
to prove that he was, by proposing a
test. that if a certain fish on top of the
water went down on his approach he
was the true angel Gabriel. but if it
remained M he was an impostcr. Ac-
cordingIy DakIanuS and the devil went
together to the bank of the river. and
no ooner did the fish see the devil than
he at once divcd down. Dakianus be-
lieved the test, and acknowledged the
devil rs the angel Gabriel, lrtt off the
worship of the true God, and, at
the devils tempting him. set himself
up rs a god on his " account. One
day, however, when eating his food,
l)aklanus was bothered by flies, which,
do what he would, he could not ret rid
OF. Ills servants said to themselves.
"l1c calls himself God, and vet can not
get rid OF the flies that bother him. He
is no god And they determined to
leave him. Six men went off, and on
the second day fell in with a shepherd,
from whom they begged bread and
water. The shepherd gave them all he
had. and asked them where they came
and where they were going TO.
They told him their story, and how they
fleeing from Dakianus and wished
to hide, and the shepherd agreed to ac-
company them in their flight. The
shepherds dog also followed his mas
ter, and the men told him to drive the
dog back, lest he should betray their
whereabouts. The shepherd objected,
the dog had been his faithful
companion for years; but the others in
sisted, and the shepherd at last struck
lhe dog with his stick, breaking one of
It's legs. The dog still followed, and
The shepherd struck it again, breaking
another leg. But the dog still CON
!inucd to crawl after them, and the
en- struck with pit, eventually took
I in turns to carry it on with them.
The shepherd guided them all to this
cave that he knew of. and once
they all went to sleep, and never
woke for 300 years. ,
In the Koran it is distinctly stated |